A Doctor, a Lawyer, or an Indian Chief

November 28 (Luke 14:16-20)
When I was a young lad, my mother used to ask me if I wanted to be a doctor, a lawyer, or an Indian chief when I grew up. Every time I read the parable Jesus tells in Luke 14, I think of that question. Jesus was the Master story teller, literally. He used common everyday subjects with which His followers would have been familiar. Luke 14 records the story about three different kinds of people who had been invited to a big dinner put on by a man. One was a real estate investor, one a farmer, and one had just gotten married. He invited each of them to his dinner, but they all had excuses for why they were unable to attend. In this story the man represents Jesus, the dinner represents the marriage supper of the Lamb of God that believers will attend in the kingdom of God.


One can go wild speculating many things about this parable, but in keeping with my propensity to only conclude the obvious, I’ll stick to the following analysis of this story. All three people, the real estate tycoon, the farmer, and the newlywed, represent those who were first invited into the kingdom. Today that would be anyone who has heard any presentation of the gospel and has, for one reason or another,  decided the life they currently live is too good to give up to follow Jesus. Israel, as a nation, rejected Him at His first coming, though most don’t realize how many Pharisees and religious leaders did in fact get converted. Today people come up with all kinds of excuses why they want to wait a few years to give up the good life. Thinking “the offer will hold” until they die of old age, they unwisely decide they’ll sow their wild oats until they get too old to enjoy such things and then they’ll get saved. What they fail to understand is that Jesus is the one who decides when to close the door.

People love to hear stories of converts who lived lives of wanton pleasure for forty or fifty years and then got delivered from drugs or alcohol abuse and were ushered into the kingdom of God (they got saved). We love to hear about nationally acclaimed athletes who found Jesus and put verses on their faces before a game. Of course, nothing is inherently wrong with anyone’s personal testimony to the greatness of our God. He does, in fact save famous and infamous, rich, and important people too. I would like to humbly suggest, however, it is just as much, if not more of a testimony to the power of God to take a child from birth and keep him from ever becoming a drug addict, abuser of alcohol, wife beater, or murderer. Anyway, back to the story at hand. As it continues, the man’s servants come back and tell him those he invited were too busy. Angry, the man tells his servants to go into the streets and invite the poor, crippled, blind, and lame to his dinner. They do so and there is still room at the dinner table. He then sends them into the highways and along the hedges and tells them to compel everyone to come. He concludes with this stern and frightening warning, “For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.”

I thank God daily that He took me from a life of wanton pleasure and called me into His kingdom. I know there is nothing within my wicked soul that deserved such love and kindness. I beat my chest (figuratively speaking) regularly asking why He chose me, a wicked sinner to demonstrate such loving kindness. The year I got saved I must have had thirty or forty people share the gospel with me. I praise His magnificent Name that finally, the night I quit running away from Him, He illumined my mind. It was like 100,000 camera flashes going off at once. It was like all the stadium lights at the Los Angeles Coliseum coming on with me standing in the middle of the field. In a moment of time He regenerated my dead soul and made me alive to Him. I was finally able to grasp the significance of Christ’s death on the cross for my despicable soul. I was so eager to learn all I could as fast as I could that I read the bible in three translations twelve times that first year. I couldn’t get enough. I wanted to make up for all the lost years I had wasted chasing the American dream. In a moment of time I realized nothing in life was more important than being pleasing to our Master and honoring His Name.

That was over thirty-eight years ago. My desire to absorb all I can about God has only increased as the years have passed. My Achilles heel (recurring sin) is that I often demonstrate little tolerance for anyone who claims to be a follower of Christ who doesn’t plan his life making sure it gives him multiple opportunities each week to share the gospel message with someone. And I have even less tolerance for anyone who thinks God has called him to be a teacher in His church who doesn’t spend massive amounts each and every day reading and studying directly from the word of God taking special care to limit the amount of time he reads any books about the word of God. I am weary of men who get the major content of their sermons from some other man’s insight. I am weary of men who download entire sermons and memorize them. I am weary of men who practice when and where they tear up during their sermonizing. More importantly, I believe God is weary of these things. I believe God has even less tolerance for such foolishness than I do; but, of course, being God He has the right to be intolerant. Because He is God, He never misjudges a person’s motives or misreads a person’s heart.

God is loving, kind, and patient. The Psalmist tells us over and again “for His lovingkindness is everlasting.” It is misleading to conclude thusly that His patience is also everlasting. The parable in Luke 14 clearly demonstrates that is not true. The parable of the ten virgins tells us likewise that a time comes when Jesus’ patience reaches its climax. When God’s patience reaches its end point and He shuts the door, anyone who has not entered is left outside for eternity. If you are reading this devotional and have been contemplating whether or not you want to give up all your worldly possessions and follow the Master of the universe, you need to understand His offer will not always be offered. There will come a point in your life when there will no longer be room for repentance. I have no idea when that will be for anyone, nor do you. You have been duped into believing the treasures of this world are fulfilling. That is a lie perpetrated on you and the rest of the world by the father of lies. Jesus has gone before us into heaven to prepare a place for us (John 14:1-3). Of course, in this life you’ll be tested by fire. That’s just another way to say this life of following Jesus will be filled with heartache, loss of ungodly friends, persecutions, trials, tribulation, and a glorious relationship with the Creator of the Universe. And I can tell you after 38 years of walking with Him, I wouldn’t trade it for all the gold on the planet. He’s the hidden treasure who's worth giving up all we own to acquire. He’s the pearl of great price. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords, the great “I AM.” He is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. He is the Messiah, the Anointed One whose first coming was in humility to take away the sins of the world. When he comes again, He will be the Lion from the Tribe of Judah. He will come to slay the nations of the earth with the sword that proceeds from His mouth. He will come to rule them with a rod of iron. Even so, Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus! Come!